Hey all my favorite CK Readers! It is me, Mandy Douglass! I don’t know about you, but I am so excited for this upcoming Easter holiday weekend. Now that I have two little boys, it just keeps getting more and more fun each year. I love easter egg hunts, easter baskets, easter bunnies, and those little peeks from the tulips that will soon turn into beautiful flowers.

Last year was the first year my son, Bryson, could start to understand the whole easter egg hunt idea. So today, I thought I would share a photo tip and a ribbon tip with you from this fun new page I created about his first hunt!

The Race is On by Mandy Douglass. Supplies: American Crafts.

Photo Tip:

Bryson was just learning to walk, and he really didn’t have enough balance to pick up eggs, so crawling was his only way to get those funny looking round things! I thought this photo was perfect to use on my layout, because it captures his perspective on the easter egg hunt. There weren’t a lot of kids around to “race” him for the eggs, but the faster he got them, the more excited he was. I challenge all you CK readers to get down in the grass this weekend and get some true perspective photographs!

Ribbon Tip:

Next is a fun tip a friend taught me a while back. I often find it hard to punch through a page or get a knotted ribbon to stay in place without gargantuan amounts of glue! So here are a few steps to show you how to get that cute ribbon knot to stay in place and avoid getting sticky.

First cut a piece of ribbon about 3″ long. Then staple it to the area of the page you would like the ribbon to be.

Then simply tie the knot (I usually only tie one knot and it stays in place).

Then cut off the remaining ribbon.

Simple, huh!

Bonus Gift-Bag Topper Tip:

I decided to use the same technique on some cute treat bags for Easter. (Not only did I get a cute bag out of it, but it also gave me a great excuse to open those Cadbury Mini Eggs that have been staring at me for a week!)

To make the bag topper, I made a simple flap using Sizzix’s scallop square die cut, then I folded it in half. I added some darling egg paper from the Dear Lizzy line by American Crafts and stapled the decorated flap to close the bag and keep the ribbon in place.

Last, I made a cute little tag using a Quickutz oval die, some scallop scissors by Fiskars, and Dear Lizzy Dimensional Sticker. Then knotted it all in place!

Such an easy way to do lots of Easter treat bags.

“Hop” that you all have a great holiday weekend!

Mandy Douglass, CK contributing writer

P.S. Don’t forget to download today’s font as part of Free Font Friday! This weeks’ font is CK Day Dream. Download it today at Creating Keepsakes.

I’m not at all Irish. Some of my ancestors were Scotch-Irish, but that doesn’t count. (They were really people of Scottish descent who emigrated to Ireland to escape hard times and eventually settled in America.) But having no Irish blood doesn’t stop me from diving right into St. Patrick’s Day festivity with fervor! I think it’s the GREEN of it all. After the muted colors of winter, I’m ready to embrace the color of LIFE and GROWTH!

So let’s get ready for tomorrow by crafting a cute card or two. Can you think of someone who needs a little spring green in their life? Here’s your Weekly Warm-Up challenge for today:

Gather some of your green scraps to make a St. Patrick’s Day card. In our April issue, Elizabeth Kartchner tackles the question of scraps and proposes even more cool ideas for putting your leftovers to good use. Check it out in her “Dear Lizzy” column on p. 105. Can’t think of a card design? Why not scraplift Becky Higgins‘ birthday card on p. 45? Her sketches can easily be used for projects other than layouts.

Before you play leprechaun and spread the luck o’ the Irish to your loved ones, don’t forget to upload your finished cards to our online gallery. And follow the rainbow to the pot o’ gold on our Facebook page to become a fan and receive mailings with even more fun ideas!